Andi Winter

In F1 there is a tradition of the “summer break.” For four weeks, there are no races, and there is even a total work stoppage for 2 weeks, where no team is allowed to do ANY work whatsoever.

Sounds nice to me.

So allow me to be generous and say that I’ve been on an extended “summer break” with posting (and for cooking) for the F1 cookbook. Kind of like Andrea Kimi Antonelli* and Bernd Maylander** at the Monza practice sessions last weekend, my life went cataclysmically sideways. As much as I enjoy F1 and researching race location-related food (and often even cooking it), my priorities shifted to Survival Mode: take care of family, take care of self (eat, sleep, try not to be a terrible human), and binge as much comfort television as possible.***

The good news is that life seems to be calming down (the calm before the next storm?), and I did manage some brief moments to re-embrace the F1 Cookbook:

Poutine!

Montreal (June 9): I made poutine, eh! Who doesn’t love potatoes and gravy and cheese? (The fried egg on top was a nod to it being breakfast time.)

Eastern European mac ‘n cheese

Budapest (July 21): Comfort food FTW, which meant Hungarian Mac ‘n Cheese, aka Túrós Csusza (Pasta with Cottage Cheese). Seemed a little odd, but it was simple, tasty, and definitely on the comfort food spectrum. (I have no idea why I have a glass of water included in the photo.)

Zaandvoort (August 25): A friend (with a Dutch husband) mentioned that Costco now sells completely-acceptable-to-the-Dutch-husband Dutch pancakes (Poffertjes), even if the box says “Belgian.” I will say that the tasty little treats heat nicely in an air fryer. (Accompaniments include yogurt, berries, and strong coffee.)

A Dutch breakfast plate

As for the races themselves, can I say what a crazy season this has been so far? And I don’t think the crazy is going to end any time soon. It is to my utter delight that Red Bull is not dominating the field anymore, and that there is an honest-to-goodness competition for the constructors championship, and for the drivers championship****.

Then there is the matter of the soap opera that is the behind-the-scenes scrambling for securing contracts with drivers for next season. Here’s hoping that Audi signs Valtterri Bottas (and his mustache), and that Red Bull comes to their senses and drops Sergio Perez and promotes Daniel Ricciardo to the 2nd seat. But time will tell.

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*There is only one Kimi in F1, and that Kimi is Raikonnen.

**When the safety car “finds the barrier” on the track, you’ve got to wonder what’s wrong with the track. Because Bernd is an amazing driver.

***Which for me meant Jane the Virgin and Bridgerton — which I fully realize in many respects are on complete opposite sides of the televised spectrum.

****Now if only McLaren will realize that they have a chance of winning it all, and that MAYBE considering having a strategy might behoove them…

Yeah, I need to work on my photo staging. But the pineapple pastry and Taiwan beer were good!

After the quasi-disaster that was Japan (Suzuka), China (Shanghai) looked to be a solid redemption. I had a plan, I executed the plan, and I ended up with “eh?”

To start with: the Shanghai race menu:

• Shanghai Scallion Oil Noodles (traditional Shanghai dish)
• Chinese Smashed Cucumber Salad
• Chinese Steamed BBQ Pork Buns (humbao)
• some sort of tasty Chinese dessert found on the shelves of the Asian grocery store
• some sort of Chinese beer (Tsing Tao?*)

To be fair, we got all of those things, albeit not necessarily as anticipated.

The noodle dish turned out okay^, and probably could have been quite good, were it not for my choice in noodles (“Chinese Wheat Noodles” that were probably WAY too thin for this recipe–think Japanese somen noodles) that turned into a very glutinous mush, my choice in stove temperature for making the scallion oil (perhaps the recipe’s “medium” and my “medium” were not the same, so it took FOREVER for the scallions to start to turn golden brown), and my poor communication of timing with my co-driver (the steamed buns got steamed quite awhile before the scallion oil began to even think about turning golden brown).

So what we got was:

• glutinous noodles in ever-so-slightly flavored scallion oil
• mildly warm, but kind of dried out, steamed bbq pork buns
• garlicky-red peppered smashed cucumbers — which was fine
• “thick pastry pineapple dessert” — which was pretty good
• Taiwan Beer — which was also pretty good

Overall, it was definitely a better experience than the Japan race dinner, although that probably isn’t saying much.

Kind of like the race.

We actually watched the race live (hadn’t intended to, but when you’re already up at midnight and F1 TV flashes “Race Live!” on your screen, it’s hard to say no), which is always a treat.

That said, I did fall asleep for the last half of it, but the start was good: Fernando Alonso started on the grid at 3rd, then managed to get to 2nd! And then locked up his tires and caused a stunning automotive version of Falling Dominoes, as the cars behind him in the corner concertinaed, and ultimately resulted in Daniel Ricciardo getting hit by Lance Stroll and then having to retire his car (and Ricciardo looked to be in a points-scoring position!).

Another depressing retirement was Valteri Bottas’ Sauber car, whose engine decided it had had enough with Sauber’s pathetically long pitstops** and couldn’t face one more of them, so it up and died early on in the race.***

In the end, Max Verstappen rang up another win (meh), but at least Lando Norris got 2nd, my F1 Fantasy Team drivers Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso took 5th and 7th respectively (and Alonso got a point for fastest lap!). And shockingly, Logan Sergeant finished last****.

Yes, there was a sprint race as well, but not much to say there besides Lando Norris getting pole position (take that, Max!), Alonso getting a tire puncture and having to retire his car 2 laps before the end of the race (boo!), and the FIA gods hating on Alonso by giving him a 10 second penalty (as if not finishing the race wasn’t enough) AND 3 more penalty points off his Super License.

Oh, and there was the whole “grass on fire” thing in the practice session and then during the qualifying session for the sprint race.

And it was the 20th anniversary of the Shanghai race, combined with the first Chinese F1 driver competing at the race (Zhou Guanyu), and then Zhou gets a special parking spot at the end of the race. Kind of odd, kind of cool.

Next up: Miami! I’m really hoping it isn’t the bombastic WWE pre-race disaster that it was last year. So cringe-worthy.

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^ Although upon reviewing the recipe’s pictures and my own picture, I’m starting to think I didn’t get nearly enough sauce on the noodles.

*Fun fact: Tsing Tao brewery was founded in 1903 by German colonizers. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the beer was brewed based on traditional German beer brewing laws (Reinheitsgebot: beer can only contain water, malts, yeast, and hops), but I can’t find a reference to that.

**A typical F1 pitstop to change tires takes 2-ish seconds. Sauber has been averaging 53 seconds.

***To add salt to the wounds, here is Bottas watching a Red Bull pitstop during the China race after he had to retire his car. Note the hang dog body language.

****This is so not shocking. At all. At least he didn’t wreck the car this time. So, kudos, Logan!

And as a complete aside, we wanted to watch “Shanghai Knights” in honor of the race, but instead ended up with “Rush Hour”. Jackie Chan is always a delight, and Chris Tucker played Chris Tucker, but Elizabeth Peña stole that show.

Melbourne dinner, and so very Aussie

Aussie Aussie Aussie! The third race of the 2024 F1 season took place in Melbourne, Australia, and wow, was it a doozy (race details at the end of the post). And honestly, so was the food!

I researched the “national dish” of Australia, and overwhelmingly, Australians say “roast lamb”. So for a second race in a row, we had lamb (not that I’m complaining). Instead of going “roast,” we went with a slow cooker approach. I will admit I wasn’t entirely sure this was the way to go, but my co-driver (who was doing the cooking, since I was doing the baking) had the final call. Luckily, it was a good call!

What goes with lamb? According to Australians, roasted potatoes (they do like their roasting!), so we had those as a side dish. Then because I have a requirement for a vegetable at meals (preferably green), my co-driver included a side of sauteed green beans (with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, butter, salt, and pepper, and knowing my co-driver, probably garlic).

Accompanying this delectable dinner was a lovely bottle of Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz, which I found covered in dust in our pantry (probably having moved with us eight years ago). So Australian wine to go with dinner! I love serendipity.

For dessert, I was deciding between Pavlova, ANZAC biscuits, and Lamingtons, only to discover that Australia and New Zealand argue rather heatedly about who gets to claim origin rights to Pavlova and ANZAC biscuits. However, Lamingtons are definitively Australian, so decision made! Besides, what’s not to love about a fluffy yellow cake square (well, rectangle) rolled in chocolate sauce, then dipped in shredded coconut? Answer: nothing! These were excellent.

There was one more thing I had to try: Marmite. I’d tried Vegemite when I was in London years ago and found it utterly disgusting (sorry, Vegemite-lovers). But after ~30 years, maybe my taste buds have changed? With that thought in mind, and with the discovery that Marmite and Vegemite are NOT the same thing (Marmite was the original, then Vegemite came out as ‘Marmite with vegetables’), and that Marmite is supposedly sweeter than Vegemite, perhaps Marmite might be more to my taste?

Answer: no.

I spread the Marmite on toasted homemade bread and tried it and gave up. It was just too salty for me (which is saying something), and had a funky taste that was familiar, but that I couldn’t name. It turns out that taste was something very similar to tamari, which I generally enjoy, but perhaps not thick on toast. Also, I found out later that a thin schmear of Marmite is the way to go, and may actually be edible (and not my ‘spread it like jam’ attempt).

Live and learn.

So overall, this page of the F1 cookbook was a rousing success. Much like Carlos Sainz’s win!

Race details: Driver Carlos Sainz had to bow out of the previous race (Saudi Arabia) due to appendicitis. Two weeks after his appendectomy, he arrives in Australia looking a little tender. AND YET! The Spaniard ends up qualifying for 2nd place on the grid for the start of the race. Not bad, eh? Things get even better when F1 Wunderkind (and annoying ‘gets all the pole positions, wins all the races’) Max Verstappen had to quit the race on lap 4 because his car was literally on fire (well, the brakes, but still). Spoiler: Carlos wins!

Add to that the fight on the last lap between Fernando Alonso and George Russell–and George deciding to crash his car rather than accept that Alonso is just a better driver than he is (at the age of 42, Alonso is the Old Man of F1 — yay for old age and treachery!). The race marshalls gave Alonso a 20-second penalty for “driving in a potentially dangerous manner” (aka RACING), which bumped him down from a 6th place finish to 8th.

(Side note: George has crashed his car in each of the three races that Carlos has won. Coincidence? Hmm.)

Then there were the mind bogglingly horrific pit stops for the Sauber team. Even Valteri Bottas’s crazy Uber ad couldn’t make up for the Sauber performance. Is Sauber trying to destroy the team before Audi takes over in 2026? Enquiring minds want to know.

Next up: the Suzuka Circuit in Japan! I’m thinking katsu curry, but my co-driver has murmured sushi. Regardless, there will be Japanese beer (Kirin? Sapporo?).

Jeddah race dinner (well, made after the race)

I’ll admit that I’ve become a bit of a Formula 1 fan over the past few years, to the point that yes, I pay for the full F1 streaming subscription so I can watch ALL of the race lead-up content* as well as archived races when it isn’t a race weekend**.

So yeah, you could say that F1 has become an obsession for me.

Another obsession fascination of mine is world travel and culture. While I have my passport and desire to see the world, alas time hasn’t necessarily been on my side. So I do a lot of armchair travel, and F1 is great for that. Heck, the 2024 season has 24 races around the world, from the Middle East to North America to Europe to Asia to Latin/South America.

And then I had a thought: what if I learned about the countries where the races are held (hello, Bahrain and Azerbaijan!)? And what if I learned through their food?

Thus my version of an “F1 Cookbook” was born.

Unfortunately, I had this thought after the first race (Bahrain), but not to worry! I vowed to start with Race #2: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A little research informed me that the national dish of Saudi Arabia is Kabsa, a one-pot rice dish with meat, nuts, raisins, and a whole host of warming spices (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and more). Round that out with “Arab Salad” (standard tomato-cucumber chopped salad) and some baklava and we’re good!

A quick stop at the local Middle Eastern market saw me trundling home with a jar of kabsa spice blend***, basmati rice (brown, which will play into the story), veg (cucumbers, carrots, parsley), a package of pistachio baklava****, and THE BEST RAISINS EVER (seriously).

With the able assistance of my infinitely better half (note: he did the cooking; I did all the sous-cheffing and the tomato-cucumber salad), after, oh, about 5 hours we had ourselves a Dutch oven’s worth of Kabsa, along with a house that delightfully smelled like a Middle Eastern restaurant. There were slight hiccups with the rice: 1) using brown basmati rice increased the cooking time, and 2) mixing up the the burners so that the “medium high” setting ended up under the sauce pan and the “keep it barely noticeably warm” setting ended up under the rice. Thankfully, this was noticed in time before the sauce burned. Everything turned out all right, if slightly delayed.

The final dish was a complex combination of savory and sweet (those raisins packed a punch!), smooth and crunchy (thank you to the oil-toasted nuts), with a little heat and gentle hints of warm desert winds and camel snorts (in a good way). The hot rice dish contrasted nicely with the light and cool chopped tomato-cucumber salad. We enjoyed a lovely Shiraz with it, which accentuated the raisin notes from the Kabsa, and then finished the evening with the pistachio baklava.

It was a sweet ending, much like F2 driver Oliver Bearman’s performance as a last-minute replacement for Carlos Sainz for Ferrari*****. The 18 year-old British kid got one practice session, then placed 11th in qualifying, AND THEN finished 7th in the race, scoring more points in one race (and his first F1 race!) than Haas’s Kevin Magnussen or Williams’ Logan Sargeant****** did in the entire 2023 season.

Ahem.

For an experiment and test of concept, I’d have to say this “F1 Cookbook”concept worked really well, and I’m curious to explore more new dishes.

Next race: Melbourne, Australia (March 24). And no, there will be no ‘shrimp on the barbie’.

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*The preview of the weekend show, all of the practice sessions, preview of the qualifying session, then the qualifying session, then the post-qualifying session review, the pre-race show, the actual race, then the post-race show. Yes, it does take up the entire weekend.

**I started with the 2007 season, and have watched every race up through 2014 Austria as of last weekend (because there was no 2024 race to watch).

***Because I’m lazy at heart, and trying to find all of the spices to make my own mix, including dried black lime, would have been incredibly time-consuming.

****Again, see comment about my laziness because I was not going to make baklava myself this time.

*****What is it with F1 drivers and appendicitis?

******Will someone PLEASE tell me why Sargeant is still in F1? WHY???